Resealable plastic containers in various forms are known in the art. Such containers are particularly useful for storing and transporting perishable items such as perishable foods, and other items being packaged on a small scale and/or close to the point of sale at a grocery store, convenience store and the like. The containers may have a two-piece construction with a bottom bowl, tray, tub or other storage element and a top lid, or may have a one-piece construction with a hinge connecting the lid to the storage element. These types of containers are typically made by thermoforming or blow molding plastics, such as polyesters, polyethylene terephthalate (PETE), polylactic acid (PLA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and the like.
Because these packages or containers typically contain consumable products, including perishable foods and possibly medications, attempts have been made to provide a tamper-proof construction, or at least a tamper evident lid so that retail employees and consumers can detect when a container has been opened or has been otherwise tampered. It is preferable to provide such a construction without the necessity of using complex molding techniques. In one common type of tamper evident container, shrink wrap is applied around the lid and mouth of the storage element to secure the lid in place. The shrink wrap must be broken before the lid can be removed, thereby providing evidence that the container has been opened. This type of tamper evident container requires the use of an additional shrink wrapping machine and shrink wrapping step to complete the sealing of the container. This may be particularly problematic or time consuming where the food to be packaged in the container is prepared on site and packaged at the retailer. The opening of the package may also be more difficult when the consumer attempts to remove the shrink wrap, and may require the use of a tool such as a scissors or a knife. Consequently, the packaging process may be more labor and equipment intensive, opening the package may be more inconvenient for the consumers, and the additional shrink wrap material may increase the cost of the package.
In another common type of tamper evident container, both the lid and the storage element are modified to provide a locking mechanism that secures the lid to the storage element such that the lid can only be removed by breaking the locking mechanism and thereby providing a visual indication that the container has been opened. For example, U.S. Publ. No. 2007/0138180 to Vovan discloses a container including a base that can hold food and a lid that closes on the base that clearly indicates if the lid has been opened after a clerk loaded food into the base and closed the lid. The base and lid each have trapping portions and pull-open portions with a tear-tab, or tear-open barrier. To close the lid, a clerk projects a tab on the pull-open portion of the lid through a slot in the pull-open portion of the base, and then presses down the entire trapping portion of the lid into the trapping portion of the base. The lid cannot be lifted up because the tear-open barrier forming the top wall of the slot lies over the tab. To open the container, a person must tear the barrier so he/she can pull up the tab and open the lid. The torn barrier provides visual evidence that the container has been opened. In these types of containers, both the lid and the storage element, and the corresponding dies or molds forming these components or other tooling, must be modified to form the locking mechanism, further adding to the cost of producing the containers.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a container that overcomes these and other disadvantages.